List of Common Conditions That Can Be Misdiagnosed.

Have you ever been misdiagnosed? Please tell us your stories in the comment section below!

A misdiagnosis describes a situation when your doctor tells you that you have some illness or condition, but it's incorrect. For example, a doctor might diagnose the flu, but the patient really has Lyme disease.

A missed diagnosis describes the lack of a diagnosis, usually leading to no or inaccurate treatment. An example would be when a woman is told the small lump in her breast is benign, only to learn later that it is, in fact malignant. Or a too-common missed diagnosis is the experience of a woman who is sent to a gastroenterologist for stomach symptoms, but her real problem is ovarian cancer, which requires a gynecologist.

In some cases, it makes no difference that a patent's diagnosis is incorrect, because the medical problem will run its course, probably heal, and the fact that it was a misdiagnosis or missed diagnosis will be a moot point.

In other cases, the diagnosis is so different from the reality of the person's medical problem that the resulting wrong treatment, or missed treatment, can cause death or debilitation.

Sometimes we try to be a doctor for ourselves and confuse one disease for another. But in reality, 20% of serious medical conditions are misdiagnosed. Our health should not be taken lightly — it’s one of the most important things in life, so let’s explore some of the diseases that can get overlooked or mistaken for something else.

A. Heart attack vs panic attack

Distinguishing between the two can be difficult, especially if you’ve never experienced either, says William Meurer, M.D., of the University of Michigan Health System Emergency Department. “There’s an overlap in symptoms associated with heart attack and panic attack.” Sometimes it’s very difficult to distinguish a heart attack from a panic attack because, at first glance, their symptoms have a lot in common. A sharp stabbing pain often indicates a heart attack. In many cases, this pain is present only in the left arm.

Here are some of the differences between a heart attack and a panic attack:

People experiencing a heart attack suffer from rapid breathing and they don’t panic. But they can feel very scared. Before that, they might feel a headache and be shaking. In cases of panic attacks, a person has a feeling of loss of control over their nerves and over their mind.

If you have panic attacks, your body is tense, so you very well may suffer from muscle pain.

D. Breast cancer vs mastitis

Almost half of the cancer patients are diagnosed too late. About a quarter of patients with cancer found out about their disease once it moved into the advanced stage. And if some symptoms repeat again and again during a long period of time, it may not just be from low immunity. Try to be in tune with your body and pay attention to how you feel.

E. Appendicitis vs cysts on the right ovary

Both conditions are dangerous and need a proper diagnosis. Both can cause strong and sudden pain on the right side of the lower abdomen that can really nag and ache. It’s better not to check the Internet for symptom explanations but instead, immediately call your doctor or an ambulance.

You can have lupus all your life and not even know about it because the symptoms are so varied — it may often seem like you just have a low immune system that is causing you to catch all kinds of diseases. Doctors take years to diagnose this dangerous disease since you simply appear to be sick with many different small diseases.

The main thing that you should know is that if you have joint and muscle pain and fevers appear often from nowhere, it’s better to ask the doctor to check you more thoroughly.